Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Best new features of the HTC 10

HTC just unveiled the HTC 10, its brand new flagship smartphone that comes just over a year from the launch of the One M9.

The company worked to improve nearly every aspect of the phone, from the all-metal industrial design to the camera and the BoomSound speakers. You’ll find all of the latest usual hardware under the hood, including a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of microSD expandable storage, a 5.2-inch Quad HD LCD 5 display and more.

There are plenty of features that fans are going to like, but we narrowed that list down to some highlights we think you need to know about right now.

1.Ultrapixel 2 Camera for the front and back

Remember the HTC Ultrapixel camera? It made waves when it was introduced on the One M7, often dubbed one of HTC’s best smartphones ever. The HTC 10 takes that a step further with a sharper 12-megapixel camera (5-megapixel for the front) and a f/1.8 lens, allowing in plenty of light in dark scenes. You’ll also find optical image stabilization to keep shots crisp even when you’re moving, laser auto-focus and a dual-LED flash. 4K (only 1080p with the front camera) video recording with Hi-Res audio, slow-motion support and auto-HDR round out the features of this top-notch shooter.

2. Great toned down software

HTC worked with Google to remove as many duplicate applications as it could, which means less bloatware for customers who buy unlocked versions of the phone. (You can still blame the carriers for their added bloatware.) HTC worked with Google on the Photos app, for example, which now supports RAW images and the HTC Duo Camera files from the One M8. There are areas where HTC kept to its guns, however, like the e-mail client that it thinks beats out the competition. This should translate to a zippier experience overall and fewer apps out of the box.

3. HTC's new “Freestyle Layout”

Speaking of software, HTC added a really fun new feature called “Freestyle Layout” to the HTC 10. Think of it as a homescreen with completely custom icons that are called “Stickers.” Each sticker represents a different application. One example is a space layout where the background is the cosmos and the icons are represented by astronauts, planets and other stickers. Some folks might think this caters to a more youthful audience, but we think it’s awesome.

4. BoomSound Hi-Fi

HTC’s BoomSound speakers are still here, but they’ve changed a bit on the HTC 10. You’ll now find “BoomSound Hi-Fi speakers.” The tweeter is up top while the bass is down on the bottom. The tweeter faces you and the bass shoots downward for whatHTC promises will provide “unprecedented audio clarity on a smartphone.” The one drawback is that this is mono sound, instead of stereo, but at least you’re still getting an audio experience that should leave other smartphones in the dust. Oh, and speaking of high-quality audio, HTC is including a top-notch set of headphones in the box, support for custom audio profiles, 24-bit audio up-sampling and more.

5. Ice View Case

HTC is building on its popular Dot View case with a new Ice View case for the HTC 10. It’s a pass-through screen that offers a much higher “resolution” than the Dot View. That means room for displaying and responding to messages, answering phone calls and, yep, even accessing and controlling the camera, all while the Ice View case is closed. You can get a closer look at this case in the video above.

Honorable mentions

These are just a few of the many awesome features available in the HTC 10. Some others? Quick Charge 3.0 support and the special charger right in the box. Oh, and get this one: the HTC 10 supports Apple AirPlay. Yep, so you can stream music to thousands of devices that support Apple’s technology. Pretty, wild, right?